Loew: Germany over Italy loss

Germany coach Joachim Loew says his players have moved on from their disappointing Euro 2012 semi-final defeat to Italy.

Pre-tournament favourites Germany suffered an unexpected 2-1 loss to Italy at the last four of the European Championships in June.

Germany did not impress in this month’s qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, labouring to wins over the Faroe Island and Austria.

Nevertheless, Loew is not concerned, and said he knows what areas the squad will have to improve in as they bid to reach the next major finals.

“We are no longer mourning the loss against Italy. We have moved on from Euro 2012,” he was quoted as saying by Bild.

“It’s not easy to start a qualification campaign again after a major tournament. We are still missing a few things and lack a bit of stability. It’s a good thing that our flaws come to the fore now, though. We now know what we have to work on.

“We have made some huge steps forward in the past six years. The steps we make can obviously no longer be as big as before, though, now we’ve reached a certain level.

“We are not yet thinking about the World Cup itself at the moment. We are all in agreement that the only thing that matters for now is the qualification campaign.”